


The First Snow of Winter

by WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday



Series: Insomnia [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bellamy is a babe, Bellarke, Clarke worries, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Snow, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9792368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday/pseuds/WeSaveWhoWeCanSaveToday
Summary: Clarke can't sleep again, though this time she and Bellamy share an exciting experience - the first snowfall their people have seen for ninety-seven years.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sleeping on this for a while and I'm so glad I finally wrote it! I have no idea when it's set given Azgeda is a thing, but I take it as a little bubble off the main plot line.

It was cold that night in Arkadia. It had been getting colder for weeks, but Clarke was positive this was the coldest that it had been since the Ark had crashed into the earth. 

Her fingers curled against the freezing metal of an outer panel as she stood in an entry way, looking out across the empty clearing, out into the woods beyond. She’d been outside for about half an hour; being back inside the harsh, enclosed interior of what was left of the Ark felt suffocatingly oppressive sometimes. Tonight was one of those nights when the walls of her room seemed to shrink in around her until they became a coffin in which she could not breath.

Her breath steamed up a cloud before her face with each exhale, as though she had been smoking the tobacco that the Grounders sometimes smoked. 

“Clarke, what’re you doing up?” A voice that was all too familiar jolted Clarke out of a thought pattern, and she turned to see Bellamy who had appeared beside her. “It’s freezing, you should be inside.”

Clarke smiled slightly at the concern in his voice, but it was replaced by a frown as a question of her own came to mind.

“What’re you doing up?”

“Guard rotation; I just finished my shift,” he said, and Clarke realised she could hear the fatigue in his voice. Her eyes searched his face and saw the deep, purple shadows beneath his eyes. It was a familiar sight, but it was one that worried her nonetheless.

“…So why are you out here?” he asked again.

Clarke looked from him, to the tree line far beyond the camp walls, then back at Bellamy as a sheepish smile crossed her lips.

“…Couldn’t sleep,” they said in unison, prompting conspirative grins. There was something so comforting, Clarke noted, in having someone who knew her so well that he could answer for her (though he rarely spoke for her; he was good like that).

Clarke looked at Bellamy, about to ask him how his shift had been, when a glimpse of something small and white caught her eye. It drifted down between them, like a tiny feather, and she held out her hand so it landed gently in her palm. 

It landed with a pinprick of cold, and she couldn’t help it as a tiny smile crossed her face. 

“Is that - ” Bellamy asked, a note of reluctant excitement in his raspy voice.

“Snow,” Clarke finished for him, looking up at his face, her smile still bright. 

Both their faces turned upwards, and they both laughed breathily as they watched as more snowflakes began to appear out of the darkness. 

They looked back at each other, smiles turned to fully fledged grins as the snowflakes began to swirl between them. They ranged from tiny flecks to big flakes, and Clarke laughed as a bigger blob landed on Bellamy’s nose. He chuckled as he brushed it off.

“I know it’s frozen water, but I never expected it to be so cold!” he exclaimed with a laugh, before recoiling slightly. “That sounds stupid I know – “ he started, but Clarke’s smile cut him off.

“I know exactly what you mean,” she agreed breathlessly, holding her hands open to catch some more. Her fingers were tinged with pink, but she didn’t mind.

A few moments passed as they stood together, watching the snow fall. It began to gather in small clumps, littering the grass with a thin, patchy blanket of white, and covering the picnic tables in the clearing. 

“It’s beautiful.” Bellamy said, his words quiet in the eerie silence that accompanied the flakes. Clarke nodded, wrapping her arms around herself; she was beginning to feel the cold, and she’d only come out in her old blue jacket. Bellamy glanced at her, and noticed that she wasn’t smiling any more.

“…What’s up?” he asked, and Clarke shook her head.

 

“It’s awful but… I can’t stop worrying, Bellamy.” Bellamy waited in silence for her to continue. “It’s just… this is exciting and beautiful and I can’t believe that I’m one of the first generation in ninety-seven years – from the ark, that is – to see it, but… This is only bad news for us.

“It’s been getting colder and more people have been getting sick, and animals have been scarce so hunting’s been bad and our crops won’t grow and out of all of that, this is just going to make us more vulnerable. To Grounders, and to nature. We can fight grounders – we can’t fight an outbreak of the flu.”

Bellamy exhaled slowly, crossing his arms against his chest as he thought. 

“You’re wrong about fighting flu. If anyone can do it, your mom and Jackson can fight it. You’re saying no-one got sick from the flu on the Ark?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow as he glanced back at Clarke.

“Flu was rare on the Ark, Bellamy. But down here, it’s the perfect conditions for us to contract it – you know history, you know how many people the Spanish Influenza killed – “ 

“Yeah, 200 years ago, when they only just started to realise how diseases were transmitted. I’d say we’ve advanced a bit since then. Not that I trust them, but the Grounders would probably be willing to help with medicine.”

“Okay, so we treat the flu,” Clarke snapped, exasperated. “But what about our dwindling food supplies? Extra treks for clean water?” she carried on, listing everything that could possibly go wrong thanks to freezing weather on Planet Earth. 

“Are you done?” Bellamy asked, after a few seconds of silence. Clarke gave him a look that was less than please, her mood turning more sour as he laughed. “We’ll manage. Think of everything we’ve done to get to this point, every hardship we’ve faced. And we faced those ones with a handful of dumb teenagers – now we’ve got some of the Ark’s best minds to help us.” 

He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, looking out at the tree line. Clarke looked at his hand, and followed his arm up to his shoulder, and his shoulder to his face. He was right, as usual, she just liked to worry. 

Slowly, she exhaled, and pressed her cheek against his hand. 

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said gently, straightening her head back up. “It’s just… ever since we stepped off that dropship, I’ve been worrying about how to keep us alive. Not just us, The Hundred, but us, Skaikru. It’s… it’s a hard habit to lose.”

Bellamy exhaled through his nostrils, and dropped his head. 

“I know how you feel Clarke. It took me longer to get there but I’ve been there a while too,” he paused, removing his hand from her shoulder. “…I’m here, too,” he corrected.

More snowflakes filled up the silence between them. Clarke’s toes felt like they would fall off at any second, and the snow was beginning to settle more thickly now. She thought about everyone’s excitement when they would wake up the next morning, especially the kids, and she smiled.

“…Do you want to have the first snowball fight our people have had in ninety-seven years?” she asked, looking up at Bellamy with a coy smile on her face. He stared at her for a few seconds before grinning as he dashed over to a nearby bit of debris.

Clarke laughed as she ran off too, her freezing toes protesting as she did so. 

The snowball fight was intense, and by the time they called a truce, their hair was wet and their faces were glistening and pink from the melted snow. Bellamy argued that he was the winner, much to Clarke’s protest as they walked back to the Ark’s entryway, Bellamy’s hand unconsciously curled around Clarke’s waist.

But as they approached, Clarke stopped.

The snow was falling a little less thickly now, but the ground was still covered with at least two-inches. The evidence of their fight was littered around with little craters from missed balls, or erratic footprints. 

Bellamy jolted to a stop as Clarke did, and turned to look at her quizzically.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern spreading across his features. Clarke just stared at the doorway. Out here it was so free, so open, and she didn’t want to let go of the space just to feel contained again. Not after the Ark, and not after Mount Weather.

“Hey, Clarke,” Bellamy said, reading her features as though she was telling him exactly what she was thinking. He blocked her view of the door with one footstep, placed one hand on her upper arm and with his other hand, took hers, brushing his thumb over her knuckles. “Do you trust me?”

Clarke looked into his brown eyes, her heart stammering, and nodded.

“Then come with me.” He said softly, turning back to the dropship. He kept hold of her hand in his, so they could walk side by side, and gently he led her into the dropship. 

It was quiet, so quiet inside. All Clarke could hear was their footsteps, their breaths and her heart hammering in her head. But she focused on Bellamy’s hand in hers, so firm and so right, and she kept walking until they reached her room. 

Bellamy pushed open the door and let her go inside.

“Wait, Bellamy – “she started as he turned to leave, but he stopped her with a grin. 

“I’m just going to get a blanket, I’ll be two seconds.” He said, and she nodded, her heart squeezing as he went. 

Get ahold of yourself, I can’t believe you’re doing this, a voice muttered in Clarke’s head as she quickly changed into her night clothes and undid her hair. Her heart was still hammering, and with every second that passed when Bellamy didn’t return, she grew more worried. The walls became more suffocating, growing darker and closer each time she blinked.

The gentle knock on her door nearly threw her into a full heart attack, but she pulled herself together to open the door. 

Bellamy darted into her room, a blanket and pillow bundled in his arms. Clarke watched him cross to the couch as she hovered by her door, not quite sure what to do with herself.

“Clarke, get into bed. You’re making me cold just looking at you.” Bellamy said with a lazy grin as he shrugged off his guard jacket and laid it on her table. 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay on the couch?” Clarke asked, fully aware that they’d been sleeping on makeshift beds made from spare bits of wood for the last few months. A couch was a luxury compared to that.

“I’m sure I’ll live, don’t worry,” he replied dryly as he flopped back, pulling the blanket over him as he did so. “I’ll be right here if you need anything Clarke. Just wake me up, okay?” 

“Okay,” Clarke agreed as she climbed into her bed. She gazed at Bellamy for a few seconds before turning to her side and closing her eyes. “Thank you, Bellamy.” She said quietly into the silence.

“Don’t mention it,” he breathed, and Clarke could hear the exhaustion in his voice. 

Clarke found it easy to drift off to the sound of breathing. Suddenly, with another person occupying the space, another person she knew she could trust, the Ark didn’t seem so suffocating at all.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, critiques are welcome and encouraged! Thank you for reading :)


End file.
